On March 20, 2020, US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it would accept electronically reproduced signatures in benefit requests during the coronavirus (COVID-19) national emergency. Additionally, on March 24, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) announced that ETA Forms 9089, Application for Permanent Employment Certification (ETA 9089), will be issued electronically to employers and their authorized attorneys or agents. After these announcements, USCIS notes that the agency “inadvertently rejected some Forms I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, that included these e-certified ETA-9089s or blue ETA-9089s with electronically reproduced signatures.”

USCIS is requesting that affected petitioners re-submit their Form I-140 with the blue ETA Form 9089s or e-certified ETA-9089s with “either wet original signatures and/or scanned copies of the original signatures as well as a copy of the rejection notice.” If the petitioner’s inadvertently rejected ETA-9089 expired between March 20 and May 18, 2020, USCIS notes the agency will accept the re-filed Form I-140 petition along with the inadvertently rejected, expired ETA-9089 for the duration of the national emergency.

US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced last week that due to the ongoing COVID-19 National Emergency announced by President Trump on March 13, 2020, the agency will accept all benefit forms and documents with reproduced original signatures, including for the Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, for submissions dated March 21, 2020, and going forward. This means that a document may be scanned, faxed, photocopied, or similarly reproduced as long as the copy is of an original document containing an original handwritten signature, unless otherwise specified. For forms that require an “original ‘wet’ signature,” per form instructions, USCIS will accept electronically reproduced original signatures for the duration of the national emergency. Applicants who submit documents bearing an electronically reproduced original signature should also keep the original documents containing the “wet” signature since USCIS, at any time, can request the original documents. If upon request these original documents are not provided to USCIS, this “could negatively impact the adjudication of the immigration benefit.” The agency notes that this temporary change only applies to signatures and that all other instructions should be followed when completing and submitting a form.